THE HON DAVID LITTLEPROUD MP
Leader of The Nationals
Shadow Agriculture Minister
5 January 2026
Families miss out on supermarket price transparency as grocery prices soar in 2026
Families will be forced to shop without supermarket transparency in 2026, after Labor failed ensure that large supermarkets enable ‘dynamic’ price information for families to get the cheapest prices.
Leader of The Nationals David Littleproud said Labor had badly let down Australian families, with Labor failing to implement a key recommendation into the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) supermarket inquiry.
The ACCC recommended the Australian Government require, “very large supermarket chains (by turnover) to make application programming interfaces available, which provide dynamic price information for third parties”.
It comes as average household items, such as bread, fruit, eggs, oils, snacks and coffee soar by more than 20 per cent since Labor formed government.
“The price of almost every grocery item has gone up during a cost-of-living crisis and families are hurting,” Mr Littleproud said.
“Many products have increased by 20 per cent, but wages haven’t gone up by 20 per cent. In fact, wages are back to 2011 levels, which means going to the supermarket is financially hurting families.”
A key concern from consumers was ‘shrinkflation’ and the ACCC recommended the supermarkets should be required to publish notifications when package size changes – which is also yet to be implemented.
“These types of practices take advantage of consumers and should have been implemented by now, as it is almost 300 days since the price inquiry report,” Mr Littleproud said.
“Three years later since the call to be tougher on the supermarkets, food prices have gone up and farmers are struggling with higher costs and lower margins. Consumers need these reforms to be able to ‘vote with their feet’.
“Labor’s broken promise is costing families at the checkout over the New Year season. It doesn’t matter what aisle shoppers choose this year – it costs more under Labor.”
How 10 average household products have increased since Labor won government:
| Product | Percentage increase from April 2022 to October 2025 seasonally adjusted |
| Eggs | 41.1% |
| Oils and fats | 28.9% |
| Snacks | 26.8% |
| Coffee, tea, cocoa | 25.6% |
| Bread | 22.3% |
| Cakes and biscuits | 21.5% |
| Fruit | 21.5% |
| Milk | 20% |
| Cheese | 19.2% |
| Other dairy products | 18.8% |
Source: Consumer Price Index
